Reclosable carton

ABSTRACT

The carton incorporates a reclosing device and is constructed to minimize paperboard waste. The reclosure device includes a reclosure panel hinged to the carton top panel which overlies and is glued to the front panel at its lower corners to seal the carton. Perforated lines extending to a central tab separate the main portion of the reclosure panel from its corners for opening the carton. The front panel has a slot to accept the tab for reclosure. The front, back and side panels are serially connected along parallel fold lines. The top and reclosure panels are serially connected and extend transversely from the back panel. Bottom forming flaps, top side flaps, and the top of the front panel are formed so that two carton blanks, oriented 180* to each other, can be cut from one section of paperboard with minimum waste.

United States Patent [1 1 Tingley et a1.

[111 3,861,583 [451 Jan. 21,1975

[ RECLOSABLE CARTON [75] Inventors: William E. Tingley, Westport,

Conn.; Joseph Addiego, Bayside,

NY. I

[73] Assignec: Nabisco, Inc., New York, NY.

[22] Filed: May 7, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 357,798

[52] U.S. Cl. 229/51TC, 229/DIG. 9 [51] Int. Cl B65d 5/54 [58] Field ofSearch 229/51 TC, 51 TS, 51 SC,

I 229/44 CB, 16 R, DIG. 9

Primary Examiner-Edward J. McCarthy Attorney, Agent, or FirmGeraldDurstewitz; I. A. Strombeck [57] ABSTRACT The carton incorporates areclosing device and is constructed to minimize paperboard waste. Thereclosure device includes a reclosure panel hinged to the carton toppanel which overlies and is glued to the front panel at its lowercorners to sea] the carton. Perforated lines extending to a central tabseparate the main portion of the reclosure panel from its corners foropening the carton'. The front panel has a slot to accept the tab forreclosure. The front, back and side panels are serially connected alongparallel fold lines. The top and reclosure panels are serially connectedand extend transversely from the back panel. Bottom forming flaps, topside flaps, and the top of the front 5 Claims, 5 Drawing FiguresPATENTED JANZI I975 saw 1 or 2 1 RECLOSABLE CARTON BACKGROUND OF THEDISCLOSURE The present invention relates to paperboard carton formed byfolding cut paperboard blanks, and, more particularly to such cartonsprovided with a hinged top panel having a reclosure panel adapted to besecured to the front panel. I

In this type of carton the closure panel is frequently divided into twoor three sections by one or more lines of perforations. Usually one ofthese sections, which will be referred to as a main section, isconnected to the top panel and has a central tab which fits into a slitin the front panel for reclosing the carton. The other section orsections of the reclosure panel are glued to the front panel toinitially seal the carton.Such a carton is normally opened by graspingthe tab and pulling to free the main panel from the glued portion orportions. Various embodiments of this type of carton are shown inBritish Pat. No. 240,656, French Pat. No. 1,546,719, and US. Pat. No.3,454,212.

Folded cartons are erected from blanks which are die cut from largesheets of paperboard stock. Normally a certain amount of scrap isgenerated because the blanks are of irregular shape and the contours ofadjacent blanks do not match therefore the paperboard lying betweenadjacent blanks is wasted. Normally SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION- It is anobject of the present invention to provide a low cost reclosable carton.7

Another object is to provide such a carton which is assembled from ablank of a shape which generates a minimum of paperboard waste.

The foregoing objects are accomplished by providing a recloseable cartonassembled from a paperboard blank folded along a first set of parallelcrease lines to form consecutively connected front and back and sidepanels and folded along a second set parallel crease lines transverse tothe first set to form consecutively connected top and closure panelsextending from'the the edge of the top edge of the back panel, wherebytwo carton blanks having their respective front and closure panels inalignment can be cut from a sectionof paperboard with minimum waste.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of theinvention has been chosen for purpose of illustration and description,and is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thespecification, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of two blanks from which cartons according tothe present invention are formed,

showing their orientation upon being due cut from a paperboard sheet.'

FIG. 2 is an isometric view showing a carton formed from a blankillustrated in FIG. 1 just prior to scaling.

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of'the carton of FIG. 2 in its sealedcondition;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the carton in its opened condition.

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of the carton in its reclosedcondition.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawingsindetail, there is shown in FIG. 1 two identical carton blanks l0 and 11for forming cartons according to the present invention. The two blanksare shown in the position in which they are die cut from a paperboardsheet.

Each blank-includes a front panel 12, a back panel 14,and two sidepanels 15 and 16 serially connected along parallel crease lines 17. Aglueing flap 19 is also connected to the back panel along a crease line17. A top panel 20 is connected to the top of the back panel along atransverse crease line 21 and a closure panel 22 is connected to the toppanel along a crease line 24 parallel to the line 21. Top side flaps 25and 26 are connected to the top of the side panels along crease lines 27and 28 aligned with the line 21. Bottom forming flaps 30, 31, 32 and 33are connected to the bottom edges of the front, back and side panelsalong aligned crease lines 34, 35, 36 and 37 respectively. Each of thebottom flaps extend the same distance from their associated body panelsto provide the blank with a straight edge line 38.

The closure panel 22 is formedwith a tab 39 extending from the center ofthe free edge 40 of the panel andwith two perforated lines 41, 42extending diagonally from the edges of the tab to the ends of the creaseline 24. The perforated lines divide the panel 22 into a main section 44and two corner sections 45.

The top of the front panel 12 is formed with a cutout 46 of the samesize and shape as the tab 39. It will be seen from FIG. 1 that aplurality of carton blanks'can be cut from a sheet of paperboard stockwith a minimum of waste. Due to the matching contours of the free edgeof the closure panel and the top edgeof the front panel, two cartonblanks which are oriented 180 with respect to each other can be cut froma single piece .of paperboard with no waste being generated between theclosure panels and the front panels. The top side flaps 26 of these twoblanks extend toward each other. Each of the flaps 26 (and the flaps 25)extend from the side panels a distance which is not greater than onehalf of the sum of the distance between lines 21 and 24 and the distancebetween the line 24 and the straight portion of the free edge 40.

The blank edges 38 could be made to coincide with T the edges of thepaperboard sheet stock or with the edges 38 of other blanks.

The width of the sheet of stock can therefore be selected toexactlyaccommodate two, four, six, etc. carton blanks between its edges with noedge trim waste.

In practice, a sheet of paperboard stock is selected having a width toaccommodate a number of blanks which are a multiple of two,-and having alength equal to slightly in excess of a multiple of the side to sidedimension (from the edge of panel 15 to the edge of flap 19) of theblank. The excess length is required because of the slightly staggeredposition of the two interfitting blanks as shown in FIG. 1. The nextpair of blanks, positioned for example to the right .of the blanks and11 as shown in FIG. I, would butt against the right hand edges of theblanks 10 and 11 as shown by the dotted lines on FIG. I so that there isminimum waste between adjacent blank pairs. The largest pieces of wastegenerated are those at the endsof the sheet between the edge of the flap19 and the edge of the sheet.

The front panel 12 of each blank is provided with a horizontal slit 47for receiving the tab for reclosure of the carton as describedhereinafter. Three short vertical slits 49 intersect theslit 47 toinsure easy entry of the tab into the slit 47.

The blank is folded on the crease lines 17 and the flap 19 is glued tothe outside face of the side panel to erect the carton The bottom flaps30-33 are folded on the crease lines 34-37 and glued to each other toform the carton bottom. The carton is then filled with product and theflaps 25 and 26 are folded in as shown in FIG. 2. Small spots of glue 50are applied to the inside surface of the top panel to lightly glue thetop panel to the flaps 25 and 26, and larger spots of glue 51 areapplied to the inside surface of the corner sections 45 of the closurepanel to firmly glue the closure panel to the outer surface of the frontpanel. 7

The top panel 20 and the closure panel 22 are folded along crease lines21 and 24 so that the closure panel overlies and adheres to the frontpanel as shown in FIG. 3.

To initially open and carton, the tab 39 is grasped and rasied so thatthe main section 44 of the closure separates from the glued cornersections 45 along the perforated lines 41 and 42. As the main section 44of the closure panel is raised, the top panel is pulled away from theflaps and 26 and the glue spots 50 fail allowing the top panel to befully raised as shown in FIG.

The carton is resealed by tucking the tab 39 into the slit 47 andpressing the top panel downwardly.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the present invention provides alow cost reclosable carton which is assembled from a blank having ashape which generates a minimum of paperboard waste.

We claim:

1. A one piece blank for forming a reclosable carton cut and creased toprovide a plurality of interconnected panels including front, back andside panels having top and bottom and side edges and serially connectedto each other at their side edges along a first set of parallel creaselines, and a top and a reclosure panel serially connected to each otherand to the top edge of the back panel along a second set of parallelcrease lines transverse to said first set, whereby two carton blankshaving their respective front and closure panels in alignment are cutfrom a section of paperboard with minimum waste, said closure panelbeing spaced from said back panel by said top panel to overlie the topportion of the front panel of the carton when erected, said closurepanel being formed with a central tab on the free edge thereof and outercorner portions to be glued to the front panel to initially close theerected carton and a pair of perforated tear lines extending from thesides of said tab to separate a main portion of the panel from saidouter corner portions for opening the carton, said front panel beingformed with a slit for receiving said tab for reclosing the erectedcarton.

2. A carton-blank according to claim I wherein the free edge of saidclosure panel has a symetrical contour and the top edge of said frontpanel is formed with a matching contour-so that two carton blanksoriented with respect to each other intermesh.

3. A carton blank according to claim 2 wherein bottom forming flapsextend equal distances from the bottom edges of said front, back andside panels to minimize paperboard waste.

4. A carton blank according to claim 3 wherein top side flaps extendfrom the upper edges of said side panels a distance not exceeding onehalf the sum of the dis-.

tance between the crease lines defining said top panel plus the distancefrom the junction of the top and closure panels to the free edge of saidclosure panel.

5. A carton blank according to claim 4 wherein said top panel is spotglued to said top side flaps.

1. A one piece blank for forming a reclosable carton cut and creased toprovide a plurality of interconnected panels including front, back andside panels having top and bottom and side edges and serially connectedto each other at their side edges along a first set of parallel creaselines, and a top and a reclosure panel serially connected to each otherand to the top edge of the back panel along a second set of parallelcrease lines transverse to said first set, whereby two carton blankshaving their respective front and closure panels in alignment are cutfrom a section of paperboard with minimum waste, said closure panelbeing spaced from said back panel by said top panel to overlie the topportion of the front panel of the carton when erected, said closurepanel being formed with a central tab on the free edge thereof and outercorner portions to be glued to the front panel to initially close theerected carton and a pair of perforated tear lines extending from thesides of said tab to separate a main portion of the panel from saidouter corner portions for opening the carton, said front panel beingformed with a slit for receiving said tab for reclosing the erectedcarton.
 2. A carton blank according to claim 1 wherein the free edge ofsaid closure panel has a symetrical contour and the top edge of saidfront panel is formed with a matching contour so that two carton blanksoriented 180* with respect to each other intermesh.
 3. A carton blankaccording to claim 2 wherein bottom forming flaps extend equal distancesfrom the bottom edges of said front, back and side panels to minimizepaperboard waste.
 4. A carton blank according to claim 3 wherein topside flaps extend from the upper edges of said side panels a distancenot exceeding one half the sum of the distance between the crease linesdefining said top panel plus the distance from the junction of The topand closure panels to the free edge of said closure panel.
 5. A cartonblank according to claim 4 wherein said top panel is spot glued to saidtop side flaps.